Some Doctors Are Serving This Kind of Tea to Fight COVID-19

In a time of science and medicine, it's reported that an ancient medicinal—yep, that's tea—continues to show impressive benefit in the fight against COVID-19. In fact, one hospital has actually partnered with a tea company to ensure that it always has a regular supply of one particular tea… and its positive effects have been known for a while.

We recently reported on the benefits of green tea after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Now, physicians at a hospital in Jamaica have started serving turmeric tea to patients who are fighting COVID-19, according to a report this past weekend in Jamaica's Sunday Observer. In mid-March, Kingston Public Hospital in Jamaica initiated a partnership with a tea manufacturer and distributor to receive 10 cases of turmeric tea each week.

Why this spicy choice? An important insight about COVID-19 that's been shown consistently is that inflammation is a physiological condition that makes the body more vulnerable to the dangers of the virus. Among its other benefits, turmeric is a spice that lessens inflammation. This is largely thanks to curcumin, an ingredient in turmeric that, as we recently reported, is "a safe and effective means of fighting inflammation in humans."

The Jamaica hospital's medical staff also believes in turmeric's anti-viral properties. "For this reason, we gave it a try," said Dr. Samantha Nicholson-Spence, the hospital's department of medicine chair. "What we have found just from the initial use, there is a shorter length of stay from some of the patients taking it. Along with the shorter length of stay, we are seeing where patients who would normally progress to severe is less, compared to what we would have seen before. Those who would normally come in, not so sick, but then rapidly progress to terribly, that statistic is a little bit less, from anecdotal reporting."

Here's why you should also be regularly consuming turmeric even when you're not sick. And sign up for the Eat This, Not That! newsletter to get the latest food and health news in your inbox daily.